Saturday, January 3, 2009

Thanks to the technological developments! I hardly go to movie theater to watch movies now. We can just buy DVDs or even better, we just need to order them online through several movie renting sites like Netflix. It is much cheaper than going to theater. But sometimes, you feel that you are happy that you made the choice of doing something which is more difficult, more expensive, or more challenging. My friends asked me to go for movie with them. I resisted at first but finally submitted to their persuasion. We drove to the theater which is about five minutes drive from our apartment. I tried to persuade them to watch “Body of Lies” but they insisted on “The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas”. Finally we settled on voting and I lost the deal.

“The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” is a British-American drama film produced in 2008. It is based on a fictional book by John Boyne. It circles around the adventure of a eight years old German boy during World War II. Bruno, a son of a German Nazi commander in a concentration camp suddenly has to move to a countryside from Berlin when his father gets promoted. On his very first day, Bruno looks from the window of his bedroom and spots several people in “stripped pyjamas”. He mistakes them for farmers and asks his mother if he can play with those farmer boys. But his mother figures out the truth and discourages Bruno from getting outside.

One day as Bruno is playing outside, he finds a way to get out through a window. Secretly, he goes there and becomes friend with a Jewish boy (Shmuel), who is of same age. He asks if Bruno have food in his house and if he likes soldiers. From that day, Bruno secretly steals food and goes to the camp to play with Shmuel. One day Shmuel tells Bruno that he didn't see his father for few days. They discovers that they can dig a hole under the fence so that they can bypass the fence. At the same time, Bruno's family tries to move out to a safe place for their children to grow. On the day his family were to move to a new town, Bruno escapes to the camp and tries to help Shmuel in finding his father. In the process, they are transferred to a gas chamber and killed.

"It's not fair. Me being stuck over here on my own. While you are over there, playing with friends all day long", says Bruno not realizing Shmuel is in a concentration camp. It is a beautiful story and I am glad I went to watch it. The trailer of the movie is given below: